The 'Great Fire' that changed Newport forever

In 1665, one year before the Great Fire of London, Newport was already a thriving market town with narrow streets filled by homes mostly made of wood. 

Tragedy struck on the afternoon of Friday, May 19 that year, when something went terribly wrong in the home of local blacksmith, Richard Shelton.

A document belonging to St. Nicholas Church but held at Shropshire Archives recalls the day of the "sudden furious fire" that claimed the homes of 162 families.

"By Saturday noon following were burned out of habitation about 162 families," the memo states, adding that the town lost £30,000 -  £5.6m in today's money.

The memo ends: "Newport sin no more, lest a worse punyshment b’ fall thee".

News of the tragic fire eventually spread to London. A letter, sent on behalf of King Charles II, encouraged his subjects to give money to help Newport people rebuild their homes.

The letter called the blaze "most sudden, fearful and dismal fire" would be "the ruin of most of the inhabitants, their wives and children" unless they be "speedily supported and relieved by the Charitable Benevolence of well-disposed Christians."

It continued: "We do hereby recommend their sufferings to the charity of our loving subjects, that in this case their Bowels of Compassion will be the more enlarged, and their charity extended to those distressed inhabitants who at mid-day full and flourishing in good buildings, ample furniture, plentiful provisions and store of necessities and before midnight deprived of all, made empty and nothing, compelled to lodge in open air, and seek hospitality at the hand of others."

Almost all of the timber-framed buildings that would have adorned Newport's high street before that fateful day were destroyed in the fire.

Fortunately, it appears no one perished in the fire and eventually the town was rebuilt and the streets widened.

Today, only the Newport Guildhall and Smallwood Lodge reveal a glimpse into the town's history before 1665.